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Sacramento Still Dumps Inmates on Streets at Night — Fresno Among Counties Doing Better
A Sacramento County grand jury found that county still releases hundreds of people from jail between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. every month, at a rate higher than Fresno and other comparable California counties. The report, released June 25, tracked late-night releases from third quarter 2021 through fourth quarter 2025.
The numbers dropped. Late-night releases went from 28.4% of all releases in Q3 2021 down to 14.2% in Q3 2024, then back up to 19.8% by Q4 2025. That’s progress from the 36% rate a 2017-2018 grand jury found, but it’s still a gap.
The grand jury compared Sacramento to Alameda, Fresno, Los Angeles, and San Diego. Alameda and Los Angeles both run significantly lower late-night release rates than Sacramento, even though both handle higher total release volumes. Sacramento’s rate in 2022 was double other large California counties, according to a separate May 2023 county review commission report that pegged it at 27% — roughly 565 people per month walking out into downtown Sacramento between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.
The report flags two sheriff’s directives meant to fix this. A January 2023 policy barred releases between midnight and 6 a.m. following a Board of Supervisors jail population reduction plan. An October 2025 directive narrowed that window to 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. The narrower restriction didn’t help — releases in that 1-5 a.m. window ran 4% to 5.7% before the change, then rose to 6.1% and 6.5% after.
Some late-night releases are unavoidable. State law and court precedent bar jails from holding people past their legal release point — doing so is unlawful over-detention and opens the county to civil liability. The sheriff can offer a voluntary program letting inmates stay up to 16 hours for a daytime release, but an inmate can refuse.
The grand jury confirmed the sheriff implemented formal policy changes recommended in 2017-2018. The jail’s custody manual now details release requirements, a release checklist is in place, and the long-delayed ATIMS data system is operational, years past its original 2019 target. A resource packet covering health, housing, employment, and crisis services exists, but the policy only requires staff to provide it on request, not automatically.
Sacramento’s criminal night court, which contributed to late-night processing, closed April 27. Sheriff’s staff told the grand jury that closure should further reduce late-night releases. Neither Alameda nor Los Angeles runs a night court.
The grand jury made four recommendations: keep working with courts to cut late-night releases after the night court closure; keep monitoring and reporting release timing; make the resource packet automatic instead of on-request — all by Dec. 31 — and formally review Alameda and Los Angeles release protocols by June 30, 2027.
The sheriff, as an elected county official, has 60 days to respond.
The Breakdown
- Late-night jail releases (11 p.m. to 6 a.m.) in Sacramento dropped from 28.4% in Q3 2021 to 19.8% in Q4 2025, but still run higher than Fresno and other comparable counties.
- A 2023 county review found Sacramento released 565 people per month between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. in 2022, double the rate of other large California counties.
- Two sheriff’s directives restricting late-night release windows showed limited impact — the October 2025 change to a narrower 1-5 a.m. restriction actually saw releases in that window increase.
- State law bars jails from holding people past their release point to avoid liability, making some late-night releases unavoidable unless inmates voluntarily stay for daytime release.
- Sacramento’s criminal night court closed April 27, which staff expect will reduce late-night releases; neither Alameda nor Los Angeles runs a night court.
What This Means for You
If you’re a Fresno County voter, this is about how your county sheriff runs jail operations compared to the state’s other large counties. The grand jury’s comparison names Fresno among the counties Sacramento is being measured against — meaning Fresno’s late-night release rate is lower than Sacramento’s, even as Sacramento struggles to meet the standard other counties already hit. How a sheriff manages jail releases affects who’s walking unsheltered through your city at 2 a.m. with no ride, no resources, and nowhere to go. That’s an elected office’s call on whether the policy prioritizes avoiding lawsuits or actually managing the impact. When you vote for sheriff, you’re voting for how that gets handled.
What to Watch
Sacramento is being told to study what Alameda and Los Angeles are doing differently. If your county already does it better, the question is whether you know why — and whether the current sheriff has a plan to keep it that way or improve it further. A policy that only hands out resource information on request, not automatically, is a choice about how much the office cares whether someone leaving jail actually has a number to call. Watch whether your sheriff’s office treats this as a logistics problem to solve or a liability problem to minimize.
